Special points of

interest:

In Memoriam

Pamela Dee Thomsen

Inside this issue:

Message from the

ABOHN Chair

3

Call for BOD

Nominations

4

Credentialing

Statistics

6

Recertification

and Renewal

Information

7

Someone You

Should Know

8

Newly Certified

Class of 2015

9

Upcoming Events 12

Spring 2016—Volume 37

Accredited by the : National Commission for Certifying Agencies

In Memoriam

Spring 2016

It is with profound sadness that ABOHN announces the passing of Board member

Pamela Thomsen

Pam came to serve ABOHN in June of 2015 and was a joy to work with. Her easy going attitude was a perfect fit for the Board of Direc-tors. Until her health issues overcame her, Pam was the first to volun-teer for any project or committee and to share her wealth of knowledge as a valued subject matter expert. We will miss her smile, laugh and kindness.

Rest in Peace, Dear Pam.

Volume 37, Issue 1

Page 2 Spring 2016

ABOHN 2015-2016 Board of Directors

Chair: Jennylynn Balmer, RN, BSN, MPA, CSP, FAAOHN, COHN-S/

Secretary Sara Peterson, RN, BSN, COHN-S/CM

Treasurer: Beth Beaty, RN, MSN, COHN/CM

COHN –S Chair

Cindy Fearn, APN, MSN, COHN-S/CM

COHN Chair

Barbara McCarthy, RN, MSED, BSN, COHN

CM Chair Beth Beaty, RN, MSN, COHN/CM

Directors

Roger Brauer, Ph.D., Public Member Paula Kerns, RN, BA, COHN-S/CM

Eileen Maloney-White, BScRN, LNC-CSp, COHN (C), COHN Noreen Olson, RN, MN, ARM, COHN-S

Wanda Smiling, RN, BSN, CARN, COHN-S Pamela Thomsen, RN, MSHCI, BSN, CHTS-PW, COHN/CM (Deceased)

Paula Clay, RN, MPH, COHN/CM/SM

The Three Legal Duties of the Board of Direc-tors Duty of care: Board members are expected

to actively participate in organ-izational planning and deci-sions-making and to make sound and informed judg-ments.

Duty of loyalty: When acting on behalf of the

organization, board members must put the interests of the nonprofit before any personal or professional concerns and avoid potential conflicts of interest.

Duty of obedience: Board members must ensure

that the organization complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regu-lations, and that it remains committed to its established mission.

Front Row: Left to Right

Denise Knoblauch (Executive Director), Ann M Lachat (former CEO), Barbara McCarthy, Pamela Thomsen,

Back Row: Left to Right

Carole Cusack (Managing Director), Sara Peterson, Eileen Maloney-White, Wanda Smiling, Jennylynn Balmer (Chair). Noreen Olson, Elizabeth Beaty

Not Pictured Roger Brauer, Ph.D., Public Member, Cindy Fearn, Paula Kerns

Page 3 Volume 37, Issue 1

Message from the ABOHN Chair by Jennylynn Balmer

Board Certification – Engage Excellence, is ABOHN’s tag line. What does that mean to you? What value does it show? To me, it means that occupational health nurses who have achieved Board Certification have chosen to pursue excellence in their ca-reer and to invest in themselves. It also means that they are a valuable resource to employers in promoting worker health, im-proving health outcomes and impacting the bottom line. Who doesn’t want to be that kind of nurse and who doesn’t want to HIRE that kind of nurse? Now the tricky part, what research is out there that demonstrates this kind of value and makes the business case for board certification? This was the main topic of discussion at “Making the Business Case for Board Certifica-tion: A National Convening” hosted by the American Board of

Nursing Specialties attended by ABOHN’s Executive Director, Denise Knoblauch and my-self. The ABNS National Convening was held 3 – 5 March 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada and in-cluded attendees across multiple healthcare specialties and those with an interest in pro-moting board certification. In addition to many nursing certification boards, representa-tives from medicine, pharmacy, occupational therapy, and testing agencies were present. The keynote speaker was nationally recognized speaker and researcher Jay Needleman, PhD, FAAN, who spoke on “Assessing the Value of Certification in a Changing Health Care System.” Workgroup sessions were then led by members from the Stratford Managers, a

consultant group that helps businesses achieve and sustain exceptional improvement via coaching and consulting and strategic planning. We began with 11 research pri-ority areas and ranked them based on importance to demon-strate the value of board certifi-cation, feasibility or ease of conducting research in this ar-ea, and investment or cost in terms of dollars and time to invest in research in this area. At the end we chose four priori-ty research areas: 1) Improves recruitment and retention, em-

ployment and job prospects; 2) Recognized as validation of knowledge in the specialty; 3) Improves job culture, job satisfaction, empowerment and confidence; and 4) Advances safety, improves processes of care and improves quality of care. The next steps will be for ABNS to convene its research committee and look to put this research agenda into ac-tion. I personally found the convening energizing and exciting as we look to demonstrate for (continued on page 11)

There were many changes at ABOHN during 2015. Denise Knoblauch was currently beginning her second term on the Board of Directors when she was hired as the new ED. ABOHN reached out to Paula Kerns asking her to fill in for the rest of Denise’s board term time. We are so fortu-nate that Paula agreed, and is back serving on the Board of Directors. She previously served ABOHN from 2010—2014.

Paula currently works for Boston Scientific as the Principle Occupational Health Nurse

Thank you Paula for your continued commitment to Board Certification and to ABOHN!

Page 4 Volume 37, Issue 1

Welcome Back Paula Kerns!

Welcome Back Paula Clay!

The ABOHN Board of Directors are tasked with many challenges in order to sustain a specialty cre-dentialing program. Table 1 shows the official ABOHN Active, Inactive and Retired certification hold-ers that were in our database system as of 12/31/2015. As the base of our credential holders ap-proach retirement age, we see a slight decline in Active credential holders. Table 2 shows a slight decline in our applications in 2015 versus 2014. Each year, we find that many nurses who did not recertify were unable to be reached, in part because of incorrect or outdated contact information. The change in our recertification process to include yearly renewal, will help us keep up to date with our credential holders.

Paula Clay has agreed to fill the Board of Director vacancy due to the recent death of Pam Thomsen. ABOHN reached out to Paula to access her valuable strength and knowledge for both the COHN and CM committees. Paula previously served as a BOD from 2011 –2012.

Paula currently works for Johnson and Johnson as the Global Occupational Health Site Lead.

Thank you Paula for answering the call and for your continued commitment to ABOHN and Board Certification!

Paula Clay RN, MPH, COHN/CM/SM

Paula Kerns, RN, BA, COHN-S/CM

Page 5 Spring 2016

The Board of Directors will represent the interests of occupational health nurses seeking certification, set the criteria for certification and recertification, continually assess the certification process, set policies, and plan for the future. Directors shall have a minimum of one year as COHN or a COHN-S and are in

“Active Status” with the Corporation at the time of selection. Directors shall be currently employed in occupational health nursing. Board members may not serve on a national board of any other professional

nursing association during their term on the Board of Directors, without prior approval of the Governing Council.

The term of office for Directors shall be two years. The maximum number of

consecutive terms any director may serve shall be two.

WILL YOU SERVE?

Sadly, every year we must say farewell to one or several members of our board. It is hard to say goodbye to any of these selfless volunteers who take pride in the oc-cupational health nursing industry and by their commitment to our Board, are rec-ognized as leaders in the OHN field. Each member brings their own unique per-spective to our Board and becomes a subject matter expert (SME) for the region and industry in which they practice.

For 2017-2018 , we will require two Directors for the ABOHN Board, We con-stantly strive to represent all industries and regions, including Canada, with whom

we have a Reciprocity agreement.

If you are interested in serving on ABOHN’s Board of Directors, please call the ABOHN office at 1-888-842-2646 or you can find the information online at

www.abohn.org under the About Us tab and within the Board section.

THANK YOU!

Call for Board of Directors Nominations

Board Qualifications (abridged)

Page 6 Volume 37, Issue 1

Credentialing Statistics—Year End 2015 The ABOHN Board of Directors are tasked with many challenges in order to sustain a specialty cre-dentialing program. Table 1 shows the official ABOHN Active, Inactive and Retired certification hold-ers that were in our database system as of 12/31/2015. As the base of our credential holders ap-proach retirement age, we see a slight decline in Active credential holders. Table 2 shows a slight decline in our applications in 2015 versus 2014. Each year, we find that many nurses who did not recertify were unable to be reached, in part because of incorrect or outdated contact information. The change in our recertification process to include yearly renewal, will help us keep up to date with our credential holders.

Credential Active Inactive Retired

COHN 947 10 29

COHN/CM 219 3 7

COHN/SM 0 0 0

COHN/CM/SM 3 0 0

COHN-S 2478 34 269

COHN-S/CM 604 12 57

COHN-S/SM 3 0 0

COHN-S/CM/SM 6 0 0

CM 1 0 0

Total 12/31/2015 4261 59 362

Total 12/31/2014 4532 76 351

Table 1 (left)

ACTIVE: Credential holders who have met the criteria to hold certification.

INACTIVE: Credential holders who have not met one or more requirements for active status and have opted to take inactive status until they are compliant with the require-ments.

RETIRED: Credential holders no longer in practice and maintain their re-tirement status with ABOHN.

Credentialing Statistics—Pass Rate Percentage 2015

Table 2 (right)

The number of candi-dates who passed their certification examina-tion decreased in 2015, based on the data from 2014. COHN-S and CM candi-date applications re-mained consistent with the numbers from 2014 and we saw an decrease in the COHN candidates from the previous year.

Exam COHN COHN-S CM

Ca

nd

ida

tes

Nu

mb

er P

asse

d

Pe

rcen

tag

e P

assed

Ca

nd

ida

tes

Nu

mb

er P

asse

d

Pe

rcen

tag

e P

assed

Can

did

ate

s

Nu

mb

er P

asse

d

Perc

en

tage

Passe

d

2010 66 43 65% 97 74 76% 25 19 76%

2011 74 52 70% 113 80 71% 26 21 81%

2012 72 47 69% 107 77 73.6% 32 26 81%

2013 84 49 59% 102 61 59% 17 11 64%

2014 86 70 77% 150 121 74.2% 17 19 88%

2015 64 48 75% 148 102 69% 22 18 82%

Page 7 Spring 2016

Call for Board of Directors Nominations

2015 Credentialing Statistics—Recertification Recertification is required to maintain your credential. Every year there are nurses who retire, change jobs into non-occupational health fields and/or ABOHN has lost contact. All of these areas impact the percent of ABOHN credential holders that recertify each year. Table 3 shows ABOHN’s recertification data for the past few years. The current fees associated with all ABOHN’s application, exam, renewal and recertification can be found in Table 4.

Recertification

Year

Certificants Due for

Recertification

Certificants Achieved

Recertified

Percent of Recertification

2009 1373 994 73%

2010 1053 922 87%

2011 1031 728 71%

2012 615 388 64%

2013 1131 783 69%

2014 1096 752 78.6%

2015 962 567 58%

Table 3—Recertification Statistics

Application, Renewal and Recertification Fees and Guidelines

COHN/COHN-S Case Management Information

Application Fee $150.00 $150.00 Good for 90 days from the date of approval from the ABOHN of-fice.

Examination Fee $400.00 $250.00 Must be paid within 90 days from the date of the invoice from the ABOHN office and is good for 120 days.*

* If you fail to schedule an appointment and sit for your examination before the expiration date, your examination authorization will be voided and you will have to pay for another application and examination fee.

Exam Authorization (Extension Fee)

$50.00 $50.00 One time, 60 day extension to the original 120 day authorization period.

Yearly Renewal Fee $150.00 $50.00 Renewal payments are required every year before the credential holders’ expiration date.

Recertification Fee** $150.00 $50.00 Recertification occurs every 5 years. Paperwork and the yearly renewal fee is required before the credential holders’ expiration date.

Page 8

Volume 37, Issue 1

hygiene and safety evaluations and was engaged for speaking and training assignments.

Barbara took the ABOHN COHN-S examination in May, 1994 in Las Vegas, NV while employed at the Boise OSHA offices. Her employer was supportive of any CHSO who wanted to become certified and not only offered their own training, but paid for the week long prep class that she attended before sitting for the exam.

Barbara transitioned to a position that included some occupational health support in 2002, working at ID Health and Welfare where she utilized her nursing skills, environ-mental education and her recent training as a long term care survey-or. A component of the survey pro-cess involved environmental health such as potable water, food sanita-tion, slip/trip/falls, electrical evalua-tions and more. One major accomplishment that Barbara is proud of during this ten-ure was the identification of a prob-lem with the potable water system at a LTC facility. Barbara and her team were able to call an IJ (immediate jeopardy) situation and steps were taken to ensure that resi-dents, staff and visitors were con-suming safe, potable water. Barbara’s decision to choose occu-pational health was a direct result of a very bad drug reaction to Bactrim, which happened while working at the LTC facility. After several

“possible” medical problem diagno-ses, one doctor finally hit upon the exposure to Bactrim and suggested that Barbara reconsider direct pa-tient care and seek a different line of work,. This experience lead Bar-bara to consider a job where her nursing and environmental health degrees could work together. Occu-pational health gave her the oppor-tunity to use both degrees. Barbara began working for the tribe at the end of October 2011. The Duck Valley Reservation is located on 450 square miles of high desert land situated on the Idaho/Nevada border. There are approximately 1200 people who live on the reserva-tion. The nearest towns are Elko, NV and Mountain Home, ID. Both Elko and Mt. Home have small hos-pital facilities and for higher care, the patients must go to Boise, Reno or Salt Lake City. Duck Valley has been the home to the Western Shoshone Native Ameri-cans since 1877 and the Northern Paiute tribe since 1886. Both tribes were initially hunter/gatherers but transitioned to agriculture and ranching. Barbara related that “Ranching is very much a rich part of Shoshone-Paiute culture and tradition. If one spends any time here, you can see the esprit de corps and pride of the Indian buckaroo.” (continued on page 11)

Someone You Should Know

Page 8 Spring 2016

Barbara Franek, RN, COHN-S Employee Health/Infection Prevention/Clinic Nurse Shoshone Paiute Tribes Owyhee Community Health Facility Duck Valley Reservation

Situated in a beautiful green valley on the Nevada and Idaho border is the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. Barbara Franek, RN, COHN-S says “ If you like challenges and want to avoid traffic jams, pollution and noise; consider working on a small, high desert reservation!” Barbara Franek gained her BSN from Minot State Teachers College (Minot, ND) in 1973 and started work as an OR Nurse in Bismarck, ND. She moved to the U.S. Navy Nurse Corp in 1975 and then to Medical/Surgical RN at a 41 bed Air Force Hospital in Minot, ND in 1980. Using her VA benefits, she attended Minot State College and then trans-ferred to Boise State University to pursue a degree in Environmental Health. During this time, Barbara took various work/study opportuni-ties and in these summer months, she worked for the Montana Mi-grant Health program as a Field RN in the sugar beet fields of east Mon-tana and western North Dakota as well as the cherry orchards at Flat-head Lake, Montana. In 1988, equipped with her Environ-mental Health degree and EPA cer-tified training for asbestos removal, Barbara started work as an industri-al hygienist in Colorado. In 1989, she was hired by OSHA as a Compli-ance Safety and Health Officer (CSHO), was crossed trained in safe-ty and spent the next several years working throughout Idaho. Barbara moved from OSHA Compliance to the BSU OSHA Consultation Pro-gram in 1997 where she handled

Page 9 Volume 37, Issue 1

Congratulations ABOHN Newly Board Certified—Class of 2015

“BOARD CERTIFICATION: ENGAGE EXCELLENCE”

Certified Occupational Health Nurse (COHN)

Allender, Mary Angelides, Robin Barbay, Amy Boyce, Terry Brehm, Barbara Buckley, Olive Bullock, Ashley Carter, Kylie Chebotar, Kathleen Contreras, Joanne Edelen, Donna Edwards, Michelle

Faris, Linda Flores, Amy Franklin, Bryant Funds, Klota Gonzalez Ayala, Mirna Hammond, Deanne Harris, Charity Hightower, Myrtle Hill, Gretchen Hollomon, Ann Marie Howell, Jessica Jacobi, Shannon

Jones, Carman Kantorik, Eileen Kerney, Toni Killings, Jacquelyn Kusterman, Melissa Lawrence, Erica Lovell, Laura Maciel, Rosemary Martin, Pamela Mattingly-Taylor, Jessie Miller, Dale Myers, Stephanie

Overbeck, Michelle Persad, Vijay Petrillo, Laura Reed, Vanessa Saggus, Kim Schaffer, Scott Terpenning, Laura Thompson, Matthew Wyzkiewicz, Pamela Zavala, Amy

Certified Occupational Health Nurse – Specialist (COHN-S)

Allsup, Gabriela Andriano, Tracy Atalig-Smith, Amelia Barveld, Sally Bassir, Rangineh Beavers, Deborah Blankenship, Beth Bogart, Christine Campbell, Kimberly Chabot, Lori Clements, Haley Cockey, Margo Costa, Maria Cusack, Michele Cutler, Bethany Dammann, Beth D’Angelo, Stephanie Deeves, Lisa Duzy, Karen Earley, Yvette Eddy, Ann Eillis, Dana Elsing, Mary Ernst, Kathleen Essary, Nancy

Evans, Shannan Fallon, Pamela Farris, Sharon Flatten, Michelle French, Micci Garvey, Dawn Giles, Melanie Gillen, Cheryl Hackmann, Karen Hanna, Kathryn Harris, Sandy Henderson, Christina Hess, Stacy Hewitt, Jeremy Hockenberry, Penny Hooper, Sarah Hose, Theresa Hutson, Diane Inghram, Rebecca Johnson, Richard* Katz, Alisa King, Charlynn Knox, Marguerite Lawson, Brian Lee, Geunjae

Lepiane, Kathleen Liu, Kun Lomen, Julie Ludgate, Laura Macdonald, Kaitlin Mactyre, Matthew Marin, Candida Massaro, Marie McGee, Valerie McKee, Colleen Michael, Dawne Monaghan, Mary Moran, Karen Mullinax, John Mullins, Tim Nam, Sookyang Nika, Denise Penman, Jessica Pletcher, Michelle Powell, Rachel Quan, Salena Rockhill, Constance Rosenthal, Douglas Ross, Lisa Rybinski, Diane

Sanisidro, Betty Schuelke, Allison Seher Jr., Warren Shoffner, Renita Skaggs, Tiffany Smith, Janet Smith, DeAnna Spence, Derleen Stallworth, John Stockman, Michael Thames, Cathy Thompson, Jessica Thompson, Karen Tindall, LaQuinta Van Tine, Tiffany Warmerdam, Lynn Webster, Kathleen Westerlage, Sally Williamson, Wade Wilson, Allena Wright, Donna Young, Brenda Young, Norma Jean

Case Management – (CM)

Bell, Mary Check, Melinda Dailey, Amy De Leeuwerk, Barbara

DeLoye, Pamela Fine, Ruth Godfrey, Gary Johnson, Richard* Johnson, Leonora

Marshall, Michelle Martinez, Maria Ray, Joan Russell, Nanette Shinozuka, Nancy

Troxell, Jason Valleskey, Debbie Worden, Lisa

* Earned both core credential (COHN or COHN-S and the CM credential in 2015)

Page 10

Volume 37, Issue 1

January 2016 BOD Meeting—Orlando, FL

Page 10 Spring 2016

The Board of Directors met in Orlando, Florida in January 2016 to plan and discuss the strategic goals for 2016. Our current strategic plan centers around four areas: Reach More People, Create Strategic Partnerships, Meet/Exceed Financial Plan and Work Across Boundaries for Global Ac-ceptance.

The PR and Marketing committee crafted an advertising strategy for print and e-news for both membership organizations, AAOHN and AOHP. Print ads will run in AAOHN from March—June 2016 in the Workplace Health and Safety Journal and ads will run in each of the quarterly issues of the AOHP Journal of the Association of Occupa-tional Health Professionals in Healthcare. Along with the print ads, we will run e-ads in the July-December 2016 AAOHN e-news email campaign. In June of 2016, ABOHN will start an e-advertising campaign in the OH&S (Occupational Health & Safety) online e-newsletter. The target for this audience will be to employers and HR managers and focus on “what an Board Certified OHN can do for your business” .

CREATE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

NIOSH

OSHA

Military

Medical OH Outsourcing Groups

REACH MORE PEOPLE

OHN Membership Organizations

Employers

Nurses in other fields

Educators & education facilities

MEET/EXCEED FINANCIAL PLAN

New applicants

Retention of credentials

Employer involvement-support of ABOHN

WORK ACROSS BOUNDARIES FOR GLOBAL ACCEPTANCE

Promote U.S. standards for OH&S

Reciprocity Value

Publish articles in other countries

During the 2016 AAOHN National Conference, ABOHN representa-tives will present to the NIOSH ERC (Education and Resource Center) committee members avenues to strengthen our partnership. We hope to build on our existing relationship*** to create better aware-ness of our credentials and elevate the status of Board Certification.

*** ABOHN currently accepts two of the NIOSH ERC OHN programs as alterna-tive to work requirements.

Our Research committee has identified national OH Outsourcing groups and letters and brochures have been mailed to the primary HR contact to raise awareness of Board Certification for OHNs.

Our Research Committee is currently working on reaching out to the Roberts Wood Johnson Foundation (RJWF) which is offering grant monies for their Pioneering Ideas campaign. The entire BOD brain-stormed on “Engaging Business for Health” issues and will be submit-ting a grant request by the end of the 2nd quarter. If we are awarded grant monies, we would also have the help of RWJF to deliver our message of the benefits of having a Board Certified OHN on the staff.

The PR & Marketing Committee are collaborating on a developing a white paper that discusses the importance of the OHN role. and the Research Committee is searching for the best venues for publishing. This initiative will help achieve several goals in the strategic plan, including reaching nurses in other fields, reaching educators, pub-lishing articles in other countries while promoting U.S. standards for OH&S, and opening new areas for strategic partnerships.

you, our certificate holders, the value that your board certification brings to you and your employer. In other Board news we are deeply saddened by the passing of Pamela Thomsen, one of our newer Board members. While she only served with us a short period of time, she was a joy to be around and filled with enthusiasm. Replacing her on the board is Paula Clay RN, MPH, COHN/CM/SM who is the Georgia Site Lead for Global Health Services at Johnson and John-son and also a former Board member. Welcome back to the team Paula. I would also be remiss if I did not point out that the AAOHN National Conference is coming up April 11-14, 2016 in Jacksonville, Florida. Our reception will be April 13, 2016 at 5:30 where we will celebrate our award winners who have achieved the highest scores on the COHN-S, COHN, and CM exams this year as well as the employer of the year. In addition, we will have some exciting items for a lucky ticket holder to win! ABOHN will also have a booth in the vendor hall so please stop by and get your sticker to show your pride in your certifi-cation. Also encourage your colleagues who are not certified to stop by the booth as well. I hope to see you in Jacksonville and continue to do the good work you do in protecting the

health of our workers.

Page 11 Volume 37, Issue 1

Message from the ABOHN Chair (continued from page 3)

The clinic where Barbara works has 65 full time employees and the part time employees vary throughout the year. The clinic itself is an ambulatory care clinic with services available in optometry, radiology, lab, pharmacy, public health, EMT services, behavior health and den-tal. Per Barbara, this is a position where you get to wear many hats. It’s also a job that allows use of all the skills, education and experience gained at other jobs. One minute Barbara can be working on patient assessments, diabetic foot checks, arranging for a life flight transport and the next minute she may be responding to a temperature alarm on the vaccine refrigerator, an injured worker, or a diagnosis of some type of reportable! Barbara leads the monthly Safety/Infection Pre-vention meeting and is responsible for the fol-lowing programs and training:

Bloodborne Pathogen/Sharps Injury Pre-

vention;

Employee Health;

Infection Prevention;

Someone You Should Know (continued from page 9)

Clinic Surge/Pandemic Influenza;

Animal Bites;

Respiratory Protection/Fit-testing;

Vaccine for Children Program

Barbara recognizes that this is not a job that one per-son could do alone. She feels very fortunate to have support from her management and the clinic staff. “We have a lot more work to do, but we have made positive changes over the last few years. The clinic staff and management assist me with infection pre-vention, employee health, respirator fit-testing, TB testing, latex allergy screening, training, reportable disease, vaccine management and much more. Be-cause of this support, we have been able to improve our clinic vaccination rate, decrease missed vaccine opportunities, improve employee compliance with TB screening and continue to keep our programs up-to date.” In her free time, Barbara enjoys fishing, bird watch-ing, camping, exploring geology and the history of Idaho and the surrounding states.

That’s why we think Barbara Franek is: Someone You Should Know!

Upcoming Events

Spring 2016 Page 12

Visit ABOHN at AAOHN– Booth # 508 If you are attending the AAOHN 2016 National Conference, please stop

by the ABOHN booth to say hi and to get your invitation to the:

44th Annual ABOHN Reception Wednesday, April 13, 2016

5:30pm—7:30pm

Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront, Jacksonville, FL

Riverview Terrace 3

AAOHN 2016 National Conference Leading The Future

Endless Possibilities in Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing

Aril 11-14, 2016 Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront. Jacksonville, FL

Preconference Professional Development Workshops, April 9-11, 2016

AOHP 2016 National Conference

September 7 -10, 2016 Sheraton Myrtle Beach Convention Center Hotel

2101 North Oak Street • Myrtle Beach, SC

March 19, 2016 Occupational Health Nursing Week

April 18-22, 2016

NAOSH Week May 1-7, 2016

RE ACH

Page 13 Volume 37, Issue 1

In the News...

Page 13

Recruit a Colleague for Certification

Congratulations to

Kathleen Butts, COHN of NJM Insurance Group, located in Rocka-way, NJ for winning the 2015 Recruit A Col-league for Certification award. Kathleen re-ceived a $100.00 check for encouraging her colleague to sit for the exam. Fellow COHNs recruited 68 fellow colleagues to sit for the examinations in 2015. All Certified Occupational Health Nurses (COHN) and Certified Occupational Health Nurse—Specialists (COHN-S) can recruit a fellow nurse working in occupational health. Prospective candidates can indicate on their application a particular certified OHN who has recruited them to initiate the process for certification. The ABOHN office keeps track of these individuals and a random drawing is conducted to pick the winner.

LinkedIN

ABOHN has a thriving LinkedIn group. Cur-rently we have 1274 connections with more professionals joining every day!

Are you LinkedIN? LinkedIn is a great way to keep connected with other OH professionals, get current news and best practice advice and find oth-ers that share your passion for the OH field. Find us at www.linkedin.com. If the link doesn’t work, please copy and paste the URL below into your browser. https://www.linkedin.com/groups/ABOHN-Members-3085568/about

ABOHN Board Certified Nurse in the News!

We are very excited to share a story that was aired by MyEastTex Local News on December 2, 2015 and features:

ABOHN Board Certified

Kim Campbell, RN, BSN, COHN-S

Congratulations Kim and Well Done!

Link to My East Texas Local News Video

If the link above doesn’t work, copy and paste the link below to your browser.

http://www.myeasttex.com/news/local-news/occupational-health-nurses-keeping-workers-safe-on-the-job

ABOHN uses the email marketer Constant Contact to keep our Active credential hold-ers informed on issues related to their cre-dential, job postings and industry infor-mation. We use the “preferred email” that is given to us at the time of Recertification or Renewal.

Constant Contact

ABOHN 201 E. Ogden Ave.

Suite 114 Hinsdale, IL 60521

Phone: 630-789-5799 Toll Free: 888-842-2535

Fax: 630-789-8901 E-mail: info@abohn.org

Spring 2016

Www.abohn.org

ABOHN’s Vision "ABOHN Certification is recognized and valued as the standard to maximize the

health and safety of workers worldwide.

ABOHN’s Mission to promote a standard of excellence in occupational health nursing through

credentialing.

Principles and Values To accomplish its mission and vision, ABOHN commits its resources to achieving the following principles and values:

Establish and promote credentialing standards for pro-fessional occupational health nurses

Publicly recognize individuals who demonstrate that they meet these standards

Elevate the quality of occupational health nursing prac-tice

Stimulate the development of improved educational standards and programs in the field of occupational health nursing

Encourage occupational health nurses to continue their professional education

Perform the above unrestricted by consideration of na-tion, origin, race, creed, disability, color, age and gender

Create value for employers, their employees and the oc-cupational health professional

Seek inclusively by partnering with organizations the share ABOHN's mission and values

ABOHN STAFF

Denise Knoblauch, BSN, RN, COHN-S/CM Executive Director

Carole Cusack, MBA Managing Director

Molly Taylor, B.S.

Administrative Assistant I

Jeanne Weber, BA Administrative Assistant II (Part time)